White House to be made less of a ‘dump’ in Donald Trump’s absence

Mr Trump enjoys a round of golf at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf club – but claims he is not on holiday Ian MacNicol/Getty Images

Donald Trump has spent a good chunk of his presidency far away from the fly-infested White House – lately at a cottage on his resort in Bedminster, N.J., where he recently explained to fellow golfers that the “White House is a real dump,” according to Golf Magazine.

You may have heard this already – and that Mr Trump denied making the remark.

“TOTALLY UNTRUE,” he wrote on Wednesday, several hours before he once again evacuated the White House for Bedminster – at which point a renovation crew immediately began tearing the presidential residence apart.

Because whether Mr Trump said it or not, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has undeniably acquired some not-un-dump-like qualities over the years.

The scuzziness has nothing to do with the current occupant. As Jenny Starrs noted for The Washington Post, the White House is a centuries-old mansion whose original designers and occupants, whatever their foresight regarding matters of governance, never planned for the plumbing, wiring, extensions and HVAC systems that would be tacked on in future decades.